Avatar: The Rise of Maximilian
by SpiffyBacon
Summary: As the Avatar Aang gears up to fight the Fire Lord, a story along side his own developes around a waterbender named Maximilian. Why is he so important? What will he rise to do? Find out in this epic story series.
1. The Ignition

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, I don't own Avatar, Bryke rules, blah blah blah.

Authors note: As you may have read in the summary, this is going to be a LONG story spanning 10-20 chapters, maybe even longer, so don't expect a one-hit story. Maybe as long as one or two seasons of the actual show. There might also be a sequal, depending on how I feel after I'm done with this one. I hope you all enjoy it and give it a chance to blossom :).

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**The Ignition**

Max awoke in his cell. It had been a great dream, a dream of his home. Or was it a memory? It had been so real…

He sat up on his steel bed and gazed passively towards the door. Any minute now the guard would soon be opening the door and force him to eat breakfast. A regular schedule is somewhat comforting amidst the misery that covers the prison like a blanket. Max refused at first, refused to have his hands and legs shackled to the wall, refused to eat and drink like an injured animal, refused to accept this existence, refused to believe he would never see the South Pole again... but as the months and years went by, Max's fiery will slowly diminished into embers. He simply doesn't care anymore. Max is unsure of why the Fire Nation is even keeping him alive. They've conquered Ba Sing Se, killed the avatar, and ruined any hope for balance ever returning to the world. It's only a matter of time before the Fire Nation destroys the Water Tribes to vanquish the avatar for good, no doubt using the comet to repeat their sins inflicted to the Air Nomads. Since they have control over the Earth Kingdom, the Earth avatar would be easy to locate… and so on. But what use is Max for the Fire Nation? Would he give them directions to the South Pole, or tell them how to splash in the water? None the less, they kept Max alive, and it is this burning truth that has kept his will alive as well.

The doors to Max's cell opened. A couple of faceless guards stepped in and readied the shackles. Max subconsciously stuck out his arms as they and his legs were chained.

"I don't even see the point of doing this every time," said the left guard with disgust, as he were being forced to eat feces, "I heard he was a horrible bender with his… kind."

"It's protocol, deal with it." said the right with tired irritation.

"Protocol? Really?" as he said this, the guard kicked Max across the room. He went over and kicked him again. "Water Tribe filth! Why don't you defend yourself, eh?" Max neither said nor did nothing. "See? Defenseless. Can you believe other savages like him trying to infect our nation? They all need to be exterminated!" The second guard sighed.

"You're making this take a lot longer than is necessary. Just feed him."

"Sure, okay." he said with sarcastic anger. The second guard stepped up to Max, but instead of feeding him, he threw the water on him. "Why don't you waterbend at me and teach me a lesson?" said the guard provocatively. Max still did nothing. "Pathtic…" the guard said as he threw the bowl of food against the wall. The second guard sighed again as he unchained Max. The guards left as Max sat with no emotion, no will, and no dignity…

After being forcibly fed and watered, the doors of Max's and others in his section opened for what the guards called "recess". Basically, "recess" is where a bunch convicts group together outside in a small area to inevitably cause trouble. The guards will wait enthusiastically for some kind of disruption, and if nothing happens they will cause it themselves. Anything to be able to put firebenders into the cooler.

But something was different this time. There was definitely an excited atmosphere replacing the angry one. As questions started to form in Max's head, they were prematurely answered by a "friend" of his, Huang Hsu.

"Max did you hear the news? Everyone is talking about it!"

"About what?" Max said uncaringly.

"The Fire Nation was invaded yesterday!" Huang said quickly. For the first time years, Max was completely surprised. His passive interest started to diminish.

"In-invaded? By who?"

"Some Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe troops, but that's not even the half of it!" Huang bent down low so a quiet voice could be heard, "The Avatar's alive!"

Being the second surprise after such a long time with none, Max would surely have a heart attack.

"Alive?!" Max looked around quickly, half expecting Water Tribe or Earth Kingdom troops to burst through the walls. "But… if they succeeded, wouldn't everything be in chaos right—"

"They were defeated." Huang continued solemnly, "The Avatar survived, but most of the invasion force was captured. There just weren't enough people or time, even when the eclipse hindered the army's firebending-" _So that was why all of the guards put the prisoners into lockdown yesterday_, Max thought. "-in fact, chances are that the prisoners of war will be sent here eventually, like you were." Max felt another ancient emotion- excitement. He felt beam hope returning with the prospect of seeing other Southern Water Tribe members, but he didn't let the beam get any bigger. Even if they came, there's really nothing more except a joy in companionship, and that will be drowned out by the misery of absent hope. The guards have said themselves that no one ever escapes the Boiling Rock.

And yet, Max felt different after the recess. The hope he's trying so hard to suppress is getting bigger, despite all of his mental efforts. The Avatar's alive! Surely that's a cause for hope! The fact is, no matter how low the flame got, the embers never stopped burning. Max's spirit is being fueled once again, more than it has ever been fueled before. What an amazing feeling, he thought. Anything could be accomplished…

Max awoke the next day. He looked around, not sure if the large clanging sound had been in his dream or if it was what woke him up. He strained to listen and eventually picked up the sound of footsteps. Immediately thinking that it's breakfast time, excitement flooded Max with the idea of getting back at the guards with his newfound vigor. As the sound of footsteps grew louder, Max waited, barely suppressing his excitement. But the footsteps kept on going... hurried in fact. Profound surprise and disappointment of unfulfilled revenge tempted Max to call them back, but he merely looked outside through the small caged window in his door. As he slowly looked around to where the guards were, someone's face suddenly appeared. Max took several steps back, startled, but realized as his heart slowed that it was Huang Hsu.

"Sorry Max, didn't mean to scare you." He said playfully. The funny thing is, fear is an emotion that Max hasn't felt for a long time, way before he was even kidnapped.

"What are you doing?!" Max hissed. Huang had always talked about escaping, but Max had never thought he would actually do it…

"Helping you out! I don't know about you, but I'm sick of this place." Max stared at him unbelievingly. Huang is full of sheer stupidity. Even if Huang does break him out, what then? Are they going to somehow run past all of the guards, walls, towers, locked steel doors, more guards, then magically cross the lake of boiling water surrounding the prison?

"Did it ever occur to you of _how_ we're going to escape?" Max said after all these thoughts flashed through.

"Don't worry, I have everything planned out. I know exactly where all of the guards are at this time." Huang said this to reassure him, but Max's look told him it was a futile effort.

"So, do we suddenly have the ability to phase through steel doors now?" Max said to Huang as though he was a four-year-old.

"A guard is working for us! He's helping us escape! Any minute now, your door will ope-" Max's door suddenly opened. Huang grabbed his arm. "Come on! We have to hurry!"

"Wait a min- hold on a-" Max was trying to get words out but Huang was moving him to fast. As soon as they stopped Max grabbed him and turned him around. "What is going on?! Why is there a guard working for us? How do you know where to go? What are we going to do about the front gates? How are we going to get across the boiling lake?" Max said all of this rather fast.

"I don't have time to answer all those questions! Just do as I say!" And before Max could protest the contrary, Huang was dragging him through the chambers again. Neither Max nor Huang said anything for the rest of the way, except for occasional orders from Huang like "No, down _these_ stairs!" or "To the left! The left!" At last, Max was embraced by the cool night air. "Against the wall and behind those stairs! Quickly!" As soon as they were securely hidden, Max decided to ask only one of his previous questions.

"What are we going to do about the _lake_?!" said Max, stressing the word lake.

"You're going to get us across using your waterbending!" Huang said as if Max was supposed to figure this out a long time ago. Max found himself once again staring at Huang with concentrated disbelief.

"Your stupidity is only surpassed by this plan! I've told you a thousand times, I can't waterbend!" Max almost shouted out the last word but kept his voice in control at the last minute.

"Yes you can! You just weren't good before! It's been along time… I think you can do it now if you try!"

"And what exactly put this thought into your head?" Max inquired, his voice slowly rising.

"I saw it in your eyes. You've gotten your hope and your vigor back. I mean, look at you! You're yelling at me when you've barely ever talked to me the whole time you've been here! I've waited for this and have planned this for a long time; it just all depended on when you decided to ignite your fire again."

"I… well… hmm…." Max was speechless.

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Please be critical. I like compliments, but I can still go back and improve this thing. Point out any inconsitencies or any errors you find.


	2. The Fire Begins to Burn

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, I don't own Avatar, Bryke rules, blah blah blah.

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**The Fire Begins to Burn**

It's true that Max feels a lot different… but he hasn't had any practice with his waterbending for a very long time. Max was just about to repeat his thought to Huang when the sound of sirens suddenly exploded in every direction.

"They must have noticed one of us is missing… Damn it, what are we going to do now?" Huang said this quietly, but the sound of the sirens no longer made that precaution necessary.

"We can make a break for it… We're going to be caught anyway so we might as well go down fighting!" and before Huang could say anything to the contrary, Max ran out from their hiding place. A guard looking down on the main yard spotted him, though with difficulty.

"I see one!" she yelled, "He's down at the yard!" _'I see one'_, Max repeated to himself, _so they know we're _both _missing…_ As Max ran, a guard shot a fireball at him. He dodged it, feeling the heat of the blast on his skin, but only to run into another guard. Max tried to fight him, but his lack of knowledge of the martial arts made it a feeble attempt, and he was captured.

"Let me go!" he half-grunted, half-yelled. Max tried to break free, but his strength was unparallel to his captor. As the energy cost of struggle started to take its toll, Max was suddenly released. "Wha-?" Max turned around and saw Huang's arm rapped around the guard's throat.

"Maaax…" Huang said through the strain of holding the guard, "Don't just stand there, use some waterbending!"

"But there's no wat-" Max couldn't get the words out, for a big hairy arm suddenly rapped around his neck. As Max looked up, he saw that two more guards came to assist the original one holding down Huang. _No…_ Max thought furiously, _I won't go down like this, not anymore…_ He put his arms against the guard's and pushed with all his might. To Max's astonishment, the grip around his neck started to weaken. Max pushed more, and he noticed that, though the guard's arms were shaking furiously against the pull, Max felt no counter-force.

"Hey, I need help over here! There's something with this kid!" The guard sounded panicked. Max realized that he wasn't using _his_ strength either, not even touching the guards arms, in fact! Sudden realization dawned on him. _I'm waterbending! I must be controlling the liquid in his arms!_ Max pushed against the arms with his physical strength and they sprang apart, almost exaggeratingly. Max looked over at the guards holding down Huang, closed his eyes, and concentrated on the unseen water surrounding the prison. He moved his arms, feeling that the water is moving along with them. He moved them higher and higher when suddenly the sound of water hitting metal told Max to open his eyes again. Water flowed from the top of the front wall and into the yard. The guards only had time to yelp as the boiling water engulfed them. Max was so surprised by what he'd done that he almost lost control of the water, though he caught himself in a fraction of second. When the guards holding Huang finally loosened enough to look back, only to see a wave of boiling water coming towards them, they scattered. Huang, no doubt wondering why they suddenly released him, looked back and saw the water. His eyes widened, too stunned to move out of the way. Max saw this and brought his arms together into a V, then separated them again. The water parted into the same shape, just barely missing Huang. The boiling water instead hit the guards about to advance onto the two and were swept away by the pounding force. Keeping the move going, Max slammed the two sides of the water against opposite walls of the prison and froze it. Then there was silence.

It was Huang's turn to look at Max with concentrated disbelief.

"How… the hell… did you do that?! Have you been practicing this whole time?!"

"No, it just… came to me, as if I just remembered how to walk again." They both stood, not saying anything, almost in an embarrassed silence. Then Huang was the first to emit sound.

"Well, we shouldn't put that fantastic stunt to waste. Let's get out of here!" They hurried over to one of the newly formed ice-burgs groping the side of the prison wall and climbed up. Max brought up some of the ice and used as an elevator to slide down the wall. When they got to the boiling lake, they stopped.

"So, do you think you can freeze a segment so that we could walk across?" Huang asked.

"A segment, ha! I can probably freeze this entire lake!"

"Max, there's no reason to freeze the entire-" But Max was already bringing his arms up, hands face down and fingertips facing each other. He took a deep breath, and let it out with a grunt as he forcibly put his hands down. As he predicted, the entire lake froze over. Huang sighed.

"Okay, you froze it. Happy?" Max could tell that Huang was trying to hide his amazement.

Meanwhile, a man on a Fire Nation ship about five miles away was looking over at the Boiling Rock.

"Lieutenant, hand me your spyglass!" he said suddenly. He had noticed something… The lieutenant obeyed unquestionably. The man looked at the volcano with the instrument. He stopped and looked at it with his naked eyes again. "There's a gap in the flow of steam coming from the volcano… Now why would that happen?" the Lieutenant shrugged.

"Beats me, admiral."

"Well I think we should investigate. Tell the helm to turn to the Boiling Rock."

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Please be critical. I like compliments, but I can still go back and improve this thing. Point out any inconsitencies or any errors you find.


	3. Escaping the Prison

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, I don't own Avatar, Bryke rules, blah blah blah.

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**Escaping the Prison**

Huang and Max started walking across the lake. Though Max froze the entire lake, the water changed phase in a matter of seconds, and was soon boiling again. Max kept the section they were walking on frozen, letting the ice behind them melt as they walked, but he was having a difficult time keeping the ice from thawing.

"We have to hurry Huang! I'm… ung… not sure how much longer I can keep it iced…" Max and Huang walked faster, but not enough to overdrive Max's rate of freezing the water. Just as they were about half way to the rock wall, Huang yelled.

"Look out! The guards are attacking again!" A fireball shot towards them was aimed right at Max. Before Max did anything however, Huang leaped in front of him and parried the blast. He then countered with a fireball of his own.

"I didn't know you could firebend!" Max yelled.

"Well, now you do! Keep going, lead the way! I'll cover you!"

Huang managed to block every fireball that came their way, but it was greatly impeding their speed. Max meanwhile was doing his job, but the fear of being hit in the back made concentrating a burden. Suddenly, a fireball landed right in front of Max, who nearly jumped out of his skin from tense surprise.

"What the-?" he looked up and saw the gondola linking the prison and the wall with four firebenders in it. They started shooting a flurry of fireballs at the two. Taking defensive action, Max created a shell of ice and blocked the fireballs. _Wow… not bad for a first day of waterbend_- but Max's feet suddenly started burning. "Uhaaa!" the water supporting him and Huang started to melt, but Max refroze it. Unfortunately, this distracted him from the ice shell and it was immediately blown apart.

"We have to make a run for it!" Max yelled, "I'm going to have to freeze less ice on the surface!" Huang looked back and replied,

"I'll still do my best to cover you!" Max slowly began to accelerate, not to fast for fear of slipping, and eventually broke into a run. And, because he was freezing a lesser quantity, the ice almost immediately melted after it was frozen. They had almost twelve feet of ice to run on, just barely enough. "We're almost there…" Max said to himself. This thought may have jinxed his efforts, however, for he slipped and fell. Huang, who had been running right behind him, tripped over Max and stumbled. Max looked up only to see Huang about to fall into the water. He froze the water just milliseconds before Huang fell in, but he hit the ice with such a thud, it knocked all of the breath out of him. Huang rolled on his back, gasping like a fish out of water. Max took his hand and dragged him across the ice, one hand holding Huang while the other froze the water ahead of him. All these complications, in addition to dodging the raining fireballs, made running a very awkward process.

Meanwhile, the Admiral and the Fire Nation ship were getting closer to the volcano.

"Look, do you hear it? There are sirens going off! Something is definitely wrong…"

"It could be just a drill. Maybe they're practicing where they're supposed… to… go?" The Lieutenant fell silent at the look on the Admiral's face. "Admiral Chan, I don't think that we are supposed to break off from-" but Admiral Chan started laughing.

"I remember back when my uniform was so tight I couldn't see straight." The Lieutenant looked confused. "I'm sure we should go and check that everything is all right." Chan said.

Max hurried on as fast as possible, as slow as that may be. He thanked the universe for blessing the firebenders with such poor aim as he walked on. He had to take a turn away from the gondola in order to decrease the passengers' accuracy, so the distance to the wall increased.

"Okay, okay, I'm fine now. You can let go." Huang stood up as Max turned back around.

"All right let's start running agAAAAAA!!" Max was hit across his chest with a ball of fire.

"Max!" Huang turned around.

"No, no, turn back around, I'm fine! But their aim is improving…" The fire only nicked his chest, he hadn't gotten hit full blast. Max suddenly felt his feet get hot again. He grunted and refroze the water. "Come on, lets go!" Max started to begin his slow acceleration again but stopped when he saw Huang wasn't moving.

"They stopped." He said. "They stopped shooting at us. And the sirens got turned off."

"Are you sure the Warden told us to stop shooting?" One of the guards asked back at the prison.

"Yeah," the other guard responded, "I'm not sure why though. He said something about a ship."

Meanwhile, on top of the main tower, the Warden gazed nervously at the oncoming Fire Navy ship. A chief guard went up and joined him.

"That's Admiral Chan's ship!" the chief said.

"Admiral Chan?" the Warden asked, "Isn't he supposed to be on shore leave on Ember Island?"

"Well, his leave had to end some time." The chief said. The Warden faced palmed himself.

"No one ever tells me these things! You!" He pointed to a guard walking around him. "Tell all the other guards to go back to their regular stations!" the guard left. The warden and the chief guard were silent. Then the chief spoke.

"What should we tell the Admiral?" the chief inquired, "Warden?" the Warden had his fingers to his chin, the gears of thoughts no doubt churning vigorously.

"We tell the Admiral nothing! Let the prisoners go, it's too late now. No one will know about this incident. Our reputation would be ruined!"

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Please be critical. I like compliments, but I can still go back and improve this thing. Point out any inconsitencies or any errors you find.


	4. Boarding the Peacekeeper

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, I don't own Avatar, Bryke rules, blah blah blah.

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**Boarding the _Peacekeeper_**

Huang and Max, using an ice elevator, made it up and over the volcano wall. Max shivered at the drastic change in temperature.

"It's freezing out here!" Max exclaimed while hugging himself. "How on earth is the ocean around this volcano not frozen?!" Huang laughed.

"I think your exaggerating a bit, Max. It's summer. You're just not use to average temperatures after being in such a hot place for so long."

"And you're not cold, why?"

"I'm a firebender. I don't get cold that easily."

Max and Huang walked down the slope of the volcano. Max approached the ocean's edge and looked out over the horizon. Still being night-time, Max couldn't tell whether he was looking at land or more water.

"So, are we going to go across this like we did in the volcano?" Huang asked.

"No, I don't think it's a good idea. We have no idea where any land is, nor the distance. It could be the equivalent of crossing a desert." Max looked around. "Hey, over there! It's a ship!" Indeed, a Fire Navy ship was fast approaching a dock to the volcano. "Come on, maybe we could sneak on board." Max gestured towards the ship.

Still slightly shivering, Max led the way to the dock. The dock, as it turned out, was nothing more than the side of the volcano that had stairs up to the gondola. The Fire Navy ship was already unloading future Boiling Rock prisoners accompanied by a three to one ratio of guards. Max and Huang hid behind a hill of hardened lava and laid belly down in an effort to cover themselves up as much as possible. Huang turned to Max as he was watching the guards and prisoners going up the stairs.

"So… What do you have planned?" Huang asked his question with air of excitement.

"Ummm… Ambush a couple of guards and steal their uniforms?" Max said.

"Oh… That's it?"

"What else do you want me to do?"

"Well, I was kind of hoping to see some more of your freakish waterbending…"

"You can see some more of my 'freakish waterbending' in a few minutes." Max said this with a hint of pride.

"All right, well wait until everyone is on the gondola so that we have fewer guards to worry about if we get caught." Huang whispered.

"Don't worry, I have an idea. Follow me." Max stood up and walked to the water. He looked down at the water, then at the ship, and paused, thinking. "How long can you hold your breath, Huang?" Max eventually asked after a few seconds.

"I'm not sure… Twenty to thirty seconds, maybe? Why?"

"Do you think you could swim underwater all the way to the ship?" Huang looked out to where the ship was then looked back at Max.

"Maybe. Why don't we just walk on top of the water?"

"They might see us." Max said immediately. He had already answered that question to himself when he was thinking of the same option.

"Hmmm…. Fine. Can you use some bending to make us swim faster?"

"I'm not sure how I would have to bend the water to do that," said Max after a few moments. "Perhaps I could create a chuck of ice we could hold on to and control it underwater… but we would have to be pretty deep underwater to keep the surface undisturbed-" Max was talking to himself at this point, "and I'm not sure if I could hold on and control it at the same time… Maybe if we strap in our feet… But we might be going too fast for me to move my arms…" Huang stared at Max with increasing impatience as he paced around talking to himself. Finally, Huang said

"Okay, let's just swim to the thing before you give yourself a brain hemorrhage." Max looked at him.

"All right, we'll swim it then. But we can't resurface until we're behind the boat, got it?"

After finally getting behind the ship, Max and Huang resurfaced gasping for air.

"Whew, I was –gasp- about to –gasp- pass out." Huang said between breaths.

"Same –gasp- here." Max replied. They both floated on their backs to catch their breath. When his heart rate returned to normal, Max asked Huang "you ready?"

"Yeah, let's go." Max made a whirlpool of water around the two and extended it out so that it resembled a tornado of water breeching the surface. As they rose up out of the water, the words "_U.S.S. Peacekeeper_" could be seen painted on the back of the ship. The torrent of water curved and dropped the two onto the ship. As quietly as possible, Max let the water back down into the ocean.

"Now we just need a couple of people to ambush," Max said to himself. He looked at the ship. It was completely flat on the surface except for a large building-like structure on the deck. On the building were two smoke stacks jetting from the back and an even taller building around the front. Max looked over at the open door way on the deck. He ran to it and beckoned Huang to follow. He got on one side of the floor doorway while Huang got on the other. Max bent his head over the door way and yelled "Hey, we need someone to help us out here!" Sure enough, the sound of footsteps pursued the false request.

"What is it that you need?" a Fire Navy soldier asked as he walked up onto the deck, "I'm really busy right noummff!" Huang knocked him out by hitting the back of his head with a tool a careless crewman had left out. Max bent over the entry way again.

"Uhh, yeah. We need another guy up here!" As soon as the other guy stuck his head out, he was also knocked unconscious.

After a few minutes, Huang and Max were both wearing the soldiers' clothing, which consisted of grey clothing under light black armor with red stripes. The soldiers, meanwhile, were both tied up and hanging from the back of the ship, where they couldn't be seen.

"Listen Max," Huang started, "I actually know a thing or two about Fire Navy etiquette. Do exactly as I say so that you don't blow our cover. Also, do you see that my suit has one more stripe on my shoulder pads than yours do?" Max looked at them and saw an extra red stripe parallel to the one tracing the outer edge was on Huang's shoulder pads. "That means I outrank you. So I might yell at you if you aren't doing something right, got it?" Huang said all of this in a friendly tone of voice.

"Got it."

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Please be critical. I like compliments, but I can still go back and improve this thing. Point out any inconsitencies or any errors you find.


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